Carissa Moore and Italo Ferreira win Rip Curl Newcastle Pro, “Surfing is a beautiful thing, the sort of beauty we want to surround our lives with!”

“It was almost mystical, I had a feeling of nothing-can-happen-to-me, nothing-can-harm-me, nothing-can-touch-me.”

In pretty enough two-to-four-foot waves, event favourites Carissa Moore and Italo Ferreira, from Hawaii and Brazil respectively, executed perfect contest surfing to win the Rip Curl Newcastle Pro.

Moore, who is twenty-eighty and a four-time world champion, dominated the Australian Isabella Nichols, twenty-three, easily collecting her twenty-fourth WCT win and moving into the number one position on tour.

Yesterday, Moore stomped the best air ever made by a woman in a contest, displaying utter confidence and an utter faith in her ability.

In the men, and as predicted by BeachGrit’s tour correspondent Longtom, Brazilian surfers dominated even local favourites Ryan Callinan and Morgan Cilibic.

“Most likely the Newy blue-collar dreams, if that is even a thing anymore, will be smashed to smithereens by a Brazilian.
Anyone of them, Medina, Italo or Toledo would do it.”

As it was, Ferreira, twenty-six, won the “high-energy final” and described the feeling as “almost mystical, I had a feeling of nothing-can-happen-to-me, nothing-can-harm-me, nothing-can-touch-me.”

Longtom’s analysis of finals day to follow shortly.